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Here comes chapter 2
Chapter 2: A New Life
It took me about an hour and a half using subway to go from Manhattan to Long Island, and then continue to searched it on foot, but I finally manage to find it (it's surprisingly not hard to find). "Camp Half Blood" I read the sign on the gate out loud for no particular reason. But after I said that, it just came to me that the writing was in Greek, which is weird because I don't remember ever learning Greek. I followed the cobblestone path, and right when I stepped my foot inside the camp site, a half-man, half-horse creature walks toward me. Wait, let me paraphrase that, A FUCKING CENTAUR IS IN FRONT OF ME.
I tried so hard to not say that last sentence out loud and keeping my face straight. Or at least as straight as you can be when you're seeing something that you only see as a CGI in a movie.
"Hello kid, and welcome to camp Half-Blood. I've never seen you here before" His sentence stopped me from keeps thinking about where his upper body and lower body connected.
"Sir! Yes Sir! I just found out about all these… things last night" I answered with a stutter. I still can't believe what I was seeing with my own two eyes. I mean, you can't see a freaking centaur and just act cool about it.
"Hahaha, just call me Chiron, kid. So, what's your name?" He asked while patting my shoulder
"It's Aiden Alexander" I answered.
"So Aiden, do you know who's your godly parent is?" Huh, that's the same question I got last night.
"No, I have no idea, and in fact I don't think I've covered my head around this whole half-blood things yet" I answered honestly.
"Well, at some occasion, a god or goddess fell in love with a mortal being. And sometimes, they decided to…" aw hell no, I'm not having this talk again…
"I know about that! What I want to know is how do I know who's my godly parent is?" you bet I'll give anything to know who's my real parents are.
"Your Godly parent, usually claimed you when you're 13. Some got claimed sooner, some later" answered Chiron.
"How do I know whether I've been claimed or not?" I asked again.
"Trust me kid, you'll know" wow, first of all, that's a really vague and cliché answer, second of all… I can't help but wonder why my parent hasn't claimed it yet… does he or she even know I exist?
"So Aiden, do you have any other question?" yeah, like shouldn't you wear pants? Well, that's what I wanted to ask, but instead, I asked "Uhh... Where do I sleep?"
"Kids who have been claimed by their Godly parent will stay in their parent's respective cabin. But since you haven't been claimed yet, you'll stay in the Hermes cabin for now" he answered.
And so, after I was forced to watch a pretty weird orientation video and getting myself a nice orange T-shirt, I found my way to the "Hermes cabin". The cabin was nothing like I imagined, it was messy and worn out looking. "Can't they just use their Godly power or Godly cash to renovate this place?" I thought to myself.
"Hey, are you new here?" A brunette boy around my age suddenly appeared in front of me.
"Y-Yeah, Chiron told me that I can stay in this cabin" I answered, still wondering wherever this guy could come from.
"So you haven't been claimed yet then? You don't look like a son of Hermes. That's alright, someone will claim you sooner or later. My name is Gary by the way" He spoke rather fast. He smiled and held out his hand.
I shook it and said "Thanks man, I'm Aiden. So is there anything I need to know about how to live in this place?" I don't want to get any trouble for doing something that I don't know I shouldn't.
"Eh, nothing that you can't read in the pamphlet. But there is an advice I can give to you if you want to survive in this cabin: watch your own stuff" He said as he hands me my wallet, of course the son of Hermes will be a sneaky thief, and of course I found out that I have one less one dollar bill in my wallet once I checked it.
"Hey, did you take my money?" I look up to face him again, only to find that he is gone. Damn it.
I figured hanging around in the Hermes cabin won't do me any good other than losing more George Washington, so I chose to take myself on a tour around the camp.
"I've never see you here before" a girl with long, curly, dirty-blond hair came up to me,
"Yeah, I just arrived today" I answered.
"Oh, are you a son of Apollo? You definitely don't look like one though…" she asked me, she must be referring to the bow and quiver full of arrow I still carry around.
"I don't know, I always thought archery is my thing and I just happened to have talent at it" I answered again.
"You haven't been claimed yet?" she asked me again.
Okay, why the hell in these past 2 days I've been confronted and asked a lot of questions from strangers, are they just being friendly? I mean, I've never see myself as an interesting kind of guy that could have stranger walks up to me just to ask me something about myself.
"No, I don't think so," I finally able to stopped my train of thought, which also seemed to be happening a lot lately.
"How old are you?" she asked yet another question. Is this girl really just friendly with every stranger she meets? Or is it just me that feels like asking someone you just met about their parent and age is a little weird.
"I'm turning 16 this year" I decided to try to stop judging people in my head for the time being.
"Then I guess the chance is pretty small for you to be the son of Apollo, he always claimed his sons when they're 13 at the latest" well this conversation has been comforting.
"Anyway, my name is Juliet, I went to the Demeter cabin. If you have any question you'd like to ask, you can ask me," she said with a big smile,
"Thanks Juliet, it's nice knowing you. My name is Aiden by the way" She gave me a nod before leaving.
"Boy, she asked all those questions, but hasn't even asked my name…" I thought to myself as I walk away.
So I decided to go check out the archery range, hopefully there are less too-friendly strangers there. As I walked to one of the firing range, some of the campers that were also training there at the time gave me a funny look. One guy yelled at me.
"Dude! What are you going to do with those arrows?!" He said before laughing with his friends.
"Shoot them of course… duh?" I said in annoyance, I really don't get the joke, what's wrong with my arrows?
"Yeah, right, the only things you'll kill with those are pigs. You'll need these arrows to actually kill any monster!" he said while holding up an arrow with a bronze tip.
I remembered the time when my arrow just bounced of the Cyclops that was chasing me last night, so I chose to heed their advice and switch my arrows with the one with bronze tips.
I aimed at the center of the farthest target. I take a deep breath, and as I released the string, I let go of my breath. And… just as I expected, it landed right at the center of the target. And when I say right at the center, I mean DEAD right at the center. I would take a bet from anyone to measure the radius of the hitting range to check if my arrow landed exactly right in the center of it.
I suddenly felt someone gave me a pat on the shoulder, it was the guy from earlier. "Not bad dude! Are you also a son of Apollo? Though you don't look like one…" he asked me,
"Uhh… from what I've heard, I have a pretty small chance to be the son of Apollo" I answered.
"Is that so? Then I guess you just got it from hard training huh? Still, that was an archery skill that could do Apollo proud! My name is Will by the way, and I'm the counselor for Apollo cabin. If you ever need any help, or training partner, our cabin has the best archer in the camp" He said with a big smile.
Will you look at that, I made 3 friends already on my first day, that's a new record. Good job, me!
I spent the rest of the day at the shooting range with the Apollo kids, we seem to get along well for some reason.
Time flew quickly, and before I know it, the sky was already painted in orange, and everyone was already headed to the dining table to have dinner with the rest of the camp. I walked around the dining area and thought to myself, "Man, how long has it been since I have a dinner together like this…"
The dining table though, is not a pleasant thing at all. Apparently each camper must sit on their respective cabin seat. This means I have to make myself comfortable with the noise and the overpopulation of Hermes table. As I about to dig into my food, Gary stopped me,
"Yo, are you not going to give the Gods offering first?" he asked me.
"Why? Do I have to that?" Don't they have all the Godly food they need?
"Of course you must do that! It's to show your respect, just dropped the best food in the fire and pray to the God or Goddess you want to give the offering to" He said as he stood up and walk up to the fire, doing the thing that he just told me to do.
"Okay then…" I said to myself as I walk up to the fire carrying a big plate of meat. "First, dropped the food" I thought to myself trying to remember the step by step. "Next, offer the God your offering"
"Wait, a minute, which God I should give this offering to? Oh Gods, I should've thought about this first. Shit, I've been standing here for too long, people behind me are waiting." My mind was panicking.
"Uh… Gods, if any of you want this meat, feel free to take it okay? Or you can share it with everyone. Sorry if I'm being rude, this is my first time" I mentally prayed the Gods not going to turn me into dust. But luckily, it seems like the Gods are nice enough to accept my offering.
As I went back to my seat, everyone was already eating and chatting with each other. Cheerfulness and happiness fills the atmosphere. I smiled to myself.
"So this is my new life huh? I think I can get used to this…"
Well, this was a slow chapter. Don't worry, we'll get to the action on the next chapter.
Reviews are always appreciated.
Bye for now.
